Remembering Important Days

It's nice to receive a card or even a call from someone remembering your special day. The giving can be just as fun as the receiving, especially when you're organized. Here's a way to be sure you don't forget other people's important days.

The beginning of the year is a perfect time to mark your calendar with important birthdays, anniversaries and events.

With my trusty refrigerator calendar and red pen, I carry over dates from the previous year and make new additions. My goal is to prepare cards just before the beginning of each month. I use a sticky note to mark each with the date it needs to be sent, and keep the stack on the counter by the garage door. This helps me time each card for its recipient's big day.

Benefits of this technique include considerable time savings, and avoiding the embarrassment of having to ask people for their birthdays again and again.

Keying In On Clutter

As a great complement to me, my husband teaches me the benefits of giving everything it's own place. Extra keys just laying around make him a little shifty. For good reason too... just leave it to someone like me to lock my keys in the car, and not know where to find the extra key.

This little arrangement was found at Home Depot. Kept in a discreet place on the pantry wall, the color coordinated labels ensure we put the keys back. We use this for the electric box key, gate key, car keys, even padlock keys.

Just one step in fighting the war on junk drawer clutter.

Shoe Organization

Shoes in your closet may be "organized" whether they are in a particular pile or a neatly sorted bin. For my family, most difficulty is found outside of the closet.

How do we keep from loosing the "Cars" shoes or the "pretty pink sandals" along with our minds on the days when we should've been there already?


My solution was to strategically place a cubby hole shoe organizer by our back door.

• This organizer is found by walking through tile flooring.
• No one digs through a box of shoes to find their own matching pair.
• All family members can easily find/reach and put away their own shoes.
• Easy training for the family as organization expectations are clear.
• When there are too many shoes to fit - time to take them to personal closets.
• There is room for a small basket on top of the box for hats.
• If a coat rack is also needed, I would suggest placing one above the shoe box, and using a basket atop for hats, mittens etc.

If this tip fits, please use it.

Holiday Gift "Rapping"

I never realized the vast qualities a gift wrap organizer had to offer or how much fun gift wrapping could be until beginning this year's adventure in Holiday wrapping with my Mother-in-law. It all started when she asked if I had any wrapping paper?

After taking out my wrapping paper organizer and hanging it over the door, we had a blast wrapping and discussing the ease and practicality of the tool. (We could have made bunch o bucks on QVC if this scene was replayed)

We both agreed on the following qualities to this organizational tool:

• Hanging the organizer over the door allows for more wrapping space in various areas throughout the rest of the room.
• Having scissors, tape, ribbon, paper, and gift bags all in one spot is highly efficient.
• Great option to unroll a bit of paper and cut directly from holder (good way to bypass a hole in the paper from your knee while trimming paper from the role)
• Makes you look and feel organized.
• Rolls up to a compact piece that can fit in a closet corner or even under the bed.
• Less mess than other Tupperware tubing or boxes as the view from the door hanger shows everything at a glance.
• This model is cheap. It can be found through Amazon for 14.95.

There are many other gift wrap organization options that may suit you even better.

Do you have any wrapping paper I could use? I do hope I am asked again.

Chore List

Crazy clean Saturdays, make for a crazy me.

When my chores are split up with a little to do each day, (even 15 minutes worth) Saturdays don't hit as hard. Here is the current(ever-changing) chore list posted on my refridgerator and a step by step approach to making it your own.

Daily
 Make bed
 Clean bedroom/bathroom
 Clean countertops (kitchen)
 Sweep kitchen floor
 Start coffee
 Wash and put away dishes
Monday
 extra option
Tuesday
 Toilets sinks counters in bathrooms
 Laundry 1light/1dark
 Vacuum Downstairs
Wednesday
 extra option
Thursday
 Laundry sheets/towels/robes
 Vacuum Upstairs
Friday
 Dust/Disinfect
 Laundry 1light/1dark
Saturday
 Clean kitchen/bathroom floors
 Meal plan for week
 Grocery store
 Clean patio
 Laundry
Extra options
 Clean refrigerator
 Organize a closet
 Pantry
 Clear kitchen basket
Wipe Floor Boards Up
Wipe Floor Boards Down


Write or type out an inventory of what is cleaned in your home weekly.
***Tip-Mentally walk through each room in your home.

Separate the items on the list that you want to do daily(ie. after each meal, upon waking, or prior to bed). Put these items into your daily section at the top of your Chore List.

Assign each chore in the list to a different day of the week. Not everyday must have chores listed. You may find you will have one or two days off.

Think about the different events you have that may interfere with your match (If you have an exceptionally busy day every Tuesday, don't match Tuesday with a chore that may run over such as cleaning the bathrooms)

Try to separate the chore assignments that you are not overwhelmed on any particular day.

Use Extra Options for light cleaning or to keep up a variety in your routine.

Mondays for me tend to be the 'Go Get Em day' of my week. Hearing machines run like the washer makes me feel productive.

For you, feeling productive may just be adding a completion check mark to your newly created list.

Happy Cleaning!

So we begin...

In looking for a way to get into the blog scene, my eyes have been open to what I possibly have to offer.

I became a stay at home mom this past September and have been on quite a mission trying to bring order to my home. Finding order in "step by step" approaches gave me great satisfaction in the work place, why not expand the gained knowledge in my home?

From daily chores to organizing pantries, finances and junk drawers, I hope you will join me on my journey to create and maintain an Orderly Home.